MASON (Second Chance Novels Book 2) (16 page)

We both exit the truck quickly, and Dig…
Sofia
has herself wrapped up around me again. I carry her strong body with no effort. Her lips play hot against my neck while I fumble with my keys, trying to get us in the door. By the time we're finally inside, I don't bother with anything but getting her to my bed and tossing her down. I'm on her in a hot second, licking and groping and grinding. I force myself to offer her some attention before I take her.

"I don't want any fucking foreplay," she rasps as her hands grip the muscles of my back strongly.
 

Holy fuck. Without hesitation I push her clingy dress up and damn near explode at the sight of the scant, lacy triangle hugging her pussy. I can smell her…I get even harder…and I obliterate that lace into shreds. Getting up on my knees to open my jeans forces me to let go for a moment, but suddenly I'm happy to have a chance to watch her. I'll be damned if she doesn't start stroking herself while she waits for me to push my pants and boxers half way down my thighs. Fuck. Me. Running.

I reach for the nightstand and she grabs my wrist in her strong grip and shakes her head. "I'm good. You good?"

I take her hand and suck in the two fingers she used to feel herself.
 

"Fuck yes," I say before I finally sink myself heavily into her body. The feel of her hot pussy around my throbbing cock is unreal.
 

"Oh, fuck…" I groan as I push into her, trying my damnedest to start slow enough to make this last.

"That all you got?" she moans as she locks her legs around my thighs to pull me in deeper.
 

Holy shit, this woman. I slam into her so hard she screams out "aahhhh…" as she digs her nails in deeper. HELL. YES.

I fuck her hard.
Hard
. And she begs me for more. Neither of us need much time to get there, and we're both moaning desperately the entire time as we fuck each other in heavy, panting desperation. By the time we both climax, we're sweaty and breathing with exhaustion from the hottest fuck of my entire life. I keep myself heavy over her and kiss away the sweat from her neck with slow, dragging, open lips.
 

"Fuck," I mumble against her skin through my heavy breathing. "Holy
fuck
."

She drags her fingernails along my back, gripping heavily as she moves them. "Don't pull out," she breathes by my ear as she rests her hands on my shoulders.
 

So I allow my heart rate to slow, keeping us connected. I wasn't ready to leave her body anyway. As our breathing calms in the silence between us, her body relaxes gently beneath mine and her fingertips rub against me in slow, gentle strokes. I finally lean up on my elbows and dare to look at her. I have no idea what I'll find in her eyes.
 

"What's my name?" she asks with a soft expression. Her sweet, feminine aura doesn't surprise me. I'm sure I've barely delved into the depth of her layers. I smile without even trying.

"Sofia," I say softly.

Her smile curls as she holds my face in her hands. I can do nothing but lean down and kiss her. Softly I experience her in a moment of beauty rather than energy, mixed with the salt of her sweat. Unreal. She deepens the kiss, keeping me in a slow rhythm with her tongue. I have no idea what I'm feeling, all I know is that in this tiny piece of time, I'm who I'm meant to be.
 

After a few more soft moments still connected in every way possible, she rolls me off her body. Her arms pull the dress from her form and I reach around to release the lacy constraints of her bra. Now naked before me, I'm more in awe of her. She has strength and tone, but hasn't lost a touch of her feminine form. Her curves entice me to touch her again.
 

"You're beautiful," I say with as much simplistic truth as I can, looking her straight in the eye. There is no romance needed. If I tried, she'd call me out on the bullshit anyway. I'm not a romantic guy and she knows it. I don't have to tell her these things for her to know them. Instead of making a fuss over hearing a compliment, Sofia responds by pulling off my shirt, followed by a deep breath as she rakes her eyes along my torso. I pull my jeans from my legs and rest next to her again. I flatten myself on my stomach and turn to face her with my head resting on my arm.

Her fingertips reach out and touch my back, and they run along my scars. She doesn't look at me in sadness or awkward pity. She simply traces each scar and then offers me a look of solid understanding.
 

"I see the ones on the inside, too," she says with equal truth, and without drama or judgment.

I take her fingertips from the gunshot scar by my shoulder and bring them to my mouth. I kiss each finger in turn while I keep my eyes trained on hers, then I lean in and kiss her with more emotion than I intend.
 

She pulls me tight against her and finally, as I've fantasized so many goddamn times, I'm lying skin against skin with Sofia, pulling her body against mine and kissing her deeply. Our hands begin exploring each other while our mouths remain locked together.
 

Her leg slowly crooks around mine and she pulls me in tight. I can feel each flex of her muscles and I push my lips harder against hers. Being against her is the strongest form of connection I've ever felt in my entire fucking life.
 

I love her without ever having tried.
 

Our kiss lasts and lasts. I don't want to leave her mouth any more than I wanted to leave her body. She's content to let me stay. After a long while, the kiss progresses until the need builds again. We grip and pull, trying to force our bodies closer than possible, but we ignore the physics and try anyway. Hell if this isn't the entire world pressed against me.
 

My erection rests hard between us and she reaches down with her hand and strokes me with perfect pressure.
Fuck
, even this slow grind has me needing her again. The tingling friction gets me harder, and I can feel her smile as we kiss deeply. My hand reaches for her naked pussy, and I feel the wetness from the two of us combined. With strong strokes of my fingers, her body becomes hotter as we experience each other. She breaks the kiss to stare heatedly into my eyes as her lips part. Her hand never stops moving on me.
 

Heavy breath warms the air around us as she pulls me over her once again. In one very smooth penetration, I breathe out a near-sharp groan of pure pleasure; Sofia sigh-moans in one perfect damn sound. Strong and slow I grind into her. Gone is the primal need to have each other, replaced by the quiet thrill of finally being together.
 

And as I push myself deeper than I've ever found myself in a woman, she turns her head to take my fingers and suck them into her mouth, tasting the two of us. She slowly blinks, and I've never experienced anything more fucking pure in my life than that look in her eyes. Holy
fuck
what this woman does to me. And still, I try to get deeper into her. She grips with her legs and tries to help.
 

Though I want this to last forever, and though it nearly does, eventually the pleasure wins out and we move against each other in stronger, faster strokes. She's breathing in rhythm with my thrusts and stroking her fingers into my very-short hair from around my neck. Without choice I move faster, stroking and pushing and grinding with an insane desire to hear her let it all go. I want her entire fucking universe to be me.

"Mason!" she cries out as her body tenses below me and squeezes tighter around my cock. The combination of her voice and her body's reaction to me causes me to explode. My eyes roll back as my cock shoots my satisfaction powerfully into her body. My groan sounds loudly as I come.

I lay over her, still breathing heavily. "Stay in me," she asks again. I find her need so fucking sexy, and we experience our connection again.
 

"I'll stay," I breathe over her. "I'm not letting you go."

"Don't sleep on the floor tonight," she says, looking me directly in the eye. The implication of her request isn't lost on me. Neither of us want this to end.

"Nowhere but beside you. I'll stay inside you all night if you want."

She wraps herself tighter around me, locking me inside of her with more strength. "Yes, stay."

I remain a part of her body long after I'm hard. I kiss her neck softly and she slowly glides her hands along my back. When she finally rolls me away, she looks at me with an expression of satisfaction in her deep brown irises. She's
so
beautiful.
 

I have a few more hours before I have to let her go and figure out what the hell I'm going to do about all of this. Lying here with Sofia, I feel like the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.
 

Thinking about Shelby, I want to kick my own ass.
Fuck
.

I wake up in the morning, light filtering quietly through the window, and I turn to Sofia. Her intelligent eyes are looking back at me. I watch as her body shifts and stretches. Every muscle gently tenses and flexes as she yawns, and I think she's sexier bed-tousled than she was in that dress, if such a thing is possible.

"Hey," I say as I reach for her. I get my fingers up in her hair and grip her head tightly. One strong kiss later and I'm treated again to the depth of her eyes staring straight into me. She reaches for my hand and holds my fingers in place at her neck. I've never experienced a moment like this. Softly, her gaze focuses on my lips and she smiles. One slow move of her beautiful brown irises and I'm lost in her eyes, inspired by the gentle curve of her lips. I've never seen anything in dream-like slow motion until this morning. She's still with me, and I see from her eyes she's staying. I need to spend time today thanking each of the gods who's ever been prayed to.

Still, we both recognize our current reality. In spite of living in this perfect dream, the real world hasn't disappeared.
 

"We can't do this again," she says in simple truth, as ever without drama. "Not until you do what you need to do."
 

"I know," I nod. "I'm going to go see her today."

Sofia nods in return. I should have ended things with Shel weeks ago, but I was in total denial. Avoidance is no longer an option; I need to finally break her heart. However, I cling to this moment with Sofia as long as I can, and I hold onto our routine: I get out of bed and take a shower, we have a cup of coffee, we talk about our investigation. This time, though, we have a new connection between us. Actually, this connection isn't really new at all. We are equally together as we've been from the beginning, the only difference being our
acceptance
of who we are together. Best fucking feeling in the world.
 

When we finally finish our breakfast, Sofia excuses herself to the shower and I nod to her. She knows I won't be here when she comes out. Communication is so simple when words don't complicate the message.
 

Taking a deep breath, I grab my keys and walk away from the only place I want to be. I simultaneously start my truck and reach for my phone.

"Can I come over?" I ask after I dial Shelby's number. I knew she wouldn't be at work today. The depth of her frustration late Thursday night told me she might be home for several days. Cam's hard glare told me the same.
 

"Are you sure you want to?" she asks with quiet but obvious bitterness.

"We need to talk. Please?"

Stony silence meets me for too long. Her heart may have broken at the exact moment of my request. Hearing
we need to talk
rarely starts a good conversation.
 

"Yeah, ok," she says quietly. "See you in a minute."

She hangs up and my shoulders slump.
This is so fucked up
, is all I can think walking up the sidewalk. Shelby opens the door and walks away. I ease my way inside cautiously and close the door behind me with a gentle click.
 

"Hey," I say in a lame greeting. I need to man up. Shelby doesn't need to carry the burden of this conversation. This entire fuck-up is on my shoulders alone.
 

Shelby sits in the only chair that doesn't have room for two. Message received.
 

"This is it, isn't it," she says, staring at the wall.
 

"Shelby, I'm so sorry," I say, trying to remain even-tempered through my apologetic tone.

She looks up at me. "Is it her?"

"Not entirely," I say.

"You lied the other night! You said there was nothing going on!" she shouts, finally demonstrating her anger.

"There wasn't, at least nothing physical."

She chuffs a sound of disgust and rolls her eyes. "Do you think that makes anything better? Any less of a betrayal?"

"No," I shake my head. "I'm to blame for all of this Shel.
All of this
."

Her voice is shaky and she responds so quietly. Her sudden turn in mood worries me.
 

"Is
that
supposed to make this any better either?" she questions.

"No, I guess not," I say quietly, too. "But you have to understand. I never meant to hurt you. There's so much you don't know. And I think I need to tell you, even though I shouldn't."

She looks at me in a combination of disgust and confusion, so I continue before she can stop me or kick me out. "I was never a mechanic in the Army. My job had a lot more to do with elite combat missions and recon work. Cam's investigation brought me back to my roots, and using my skills felt too damn good to give up."

Shelby looks at me, slightly confused. "Why did you lie about that?"

"My entire military life was full of classified and very ugly realities. I needed to leave it behind when I left the Army. I made up the mechanic identity as an easy way to deflect questions…and then I turned myself into that guy. I was the easy-going jokester my mechanic-self would be. I believed some of it myself, and tried hard to maintain that life."

"What's your point?" she asks in frustration. "Am I supposed to feel bad for you?"